TREATISE ON PROJECTION
ver 2.oo Part <5>
by
Robert Bruce
(C) Copyright 2-July-1994.
ASTRAL ROPE
A key ingredient to the new projection techniques is an invisible, imaginary ROPE hanging from your ceiling. This ROPE will be used to exert dynamic pressure at a single point on your astral body to force its separation from the physical.
The ROPE technique is similar, but more direct and hence more effective than other more passive and indirect methods, such as reaching out and pulling vibrations into you, or visualizing yourself in front of yourself. The idea of pulling vibrations into you is vaguely illogical, if you understand the mechanics of projection.
The vibrations are an effect and NOT a cause of projection. When enough pressure is exerted on the astral body to loosen it sufficiently, the energy body expands and energy flows through the chakra system to be stored in the energy body. This flow of energy through the hundreds of chakras and their connecting web, or meridians, CAUSES these vibrations. This normally happens, unnoticed, during sleep.
PUTTING THE PRESSURE ON
The more passive, indirect methods of projection do exert some pressure on the astral body to separate, but over a wide area. They still shift the point of consciousness out of the body, albeit obtusely. Any mental action that exteriorizes the point of consciousness will exert some pressure on the astral body.
The action of pulling yourself hand over hand up a rope is a strong, one pointed, natural action that is easy to imagine yourself doing. The ROPE technique concentrates ALL your mental resources into one strong, DYNAMIC action which exerts a high level of pressure directly on a single point of the astral body.
There are many other, more subtle, ways that exert pressure on the astral body as well. Many of these are unsuspected for what they are. Most meditation exercises, for example, exert PASSIVE pressure on the astral body. You may imagine you are going down in a lift, falling, climbing down a ladder, or just floating downwards. Whatever the technique, it is designed to reduce brain activity. Any self induced, inward falling sensation places passive pressure on the astral body, which will cause brain activity to lower and bring on the trance state where a deeper level of the mind is revealed.
The action of inward falling obtusely shifts the consciousness out of the body, exerting passive pressure on the astral body over a wide area, but in the reverse to that needed for projection, i.e., general downwards pressure. This, in a way, is like trying to get your astral body to FALL out of your physical body on its own, i.e., your point of consciousness tries to FALL, downwards, out of the physical body.
What most people do to project is to either exert forward, passive pressure on the astral body, by visualizing themselves floating out of themselves, and HOPE, they can make it happen, i.e., trigger the projection reflex. Or, they try a more direct method, such as visualizing themselves out of their body, which is very, very, difficult. Lets face it, 99% of people can't visualize for peanuts and the act of mentally visualizing yourself OUT of your body, AND shifting your consciousness INTO this visualization is almost impossible for most people. The other popular method is to try to pull vibrations into you. This method is slightly more effective than most as it exerts some pressure at a single point, but it is still an indirect mental action and, therefore, obtuse.
All the above, and the general lack of information about the mechanics of projection, i.e., HOW it happens, accounts for the extremely high failure rate amongst people learning to project.
Holding passive pressure, over a wide area, on the astral body, for long enough, WILL activate the projection reflex, eventually. But this can take a long time and can be mentally exhausting. I have developed, through recent research, a better, faster and more dynamic method of projection that is very effective. I call this technique simply ROPE. It is not that using an imaginary rope for projection is such a new idea, it's not, but the understanding of the mechanics of it and the application of this knowledge to ROPE is.
If you fully understand how a thing works, you can use that thing more efficiently and, therefore, get better results.
The new ROPE method overcomes the general misdirection of mental resources and the chronic waste of mental energy caused by the usual lengthy procedures needed for projection. ROPE shortens the time needed to cause a projection and optimizes the use of available energy.
One of the most important ingredients for a successful projection is to be properly motivated. Without this motivation you will not have enough mental energy to succeed and will either fall asleep or forget the projection afterwards. It is, therefore, important to keep preparation time as short as possible so it is not such a daunting and mentally exhausting task.
One thing a new projector has in abundance is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is pure mental energy. ROPE, plus the understanding of HOW it works, harnesses and makes better use of this energy resource and vastly improves the success rate.
Getting The Feel Of Rope
Pin a length of ribbon, string or rope to the ceiling above you. Have it hanging within arms reach so you can easily reach up and touch it. Reach out and touch it frequently, until you are used to where it is in your mind. This ribbon is only a tactile aide. By being able to reach out and touch the ribbon, you used to the spatial coordinates of where the invisible, imaginary ROPE is. This grows both in your mind and hence as a thought form, making it easier to imagine yourself reaching out and climbing the ROPE with your imaginary HANDS.
Note: You do NOT have to actually visualize, or see, the ROPE at any time, just know where it is supposed to be. This method uses NO visualization at all.
Reaching out and pulling on this invisible, imaginary ROPE with your imaginary HANDS shifts the bodily awareness induced point of consciousness, out of the body, with a strong natural action that puts direct pressure on one point of the astral body.
Active Chakra
One important point, if you happen to have more activity in your Brow Chakra, rather than in your Heart Chakra, which is sometimes the case. Move the position of your imaginary ROPE so your arms would be at a 45 degree angle above your head. If you use the visual aide, ribbon, move this so it is hanging down over your head, rather than over your chest.
Changing the angle of the ROPE shifts the point of pressure you are exerting on your astral body to the most active chakra area and gives better results.
In any case, position the angle of the ROPE at the most natural, and easy to imagine attitude for you. It is important that the angle and position of the imaginary ROPE feels natural. Experiment with this angle until it feels right for you.
ARE YOU READY TO PROJECT ?
All the exercises in the previous parts of this series ARE necessary training for projection. They are, however, not all needed, in themselves, for the projection process. If you do all the relaxation, mental calming, mental falling, chakra opening and energy raising exercises during the actual projection, you can use up your supply of mental energy. This can cause mental exhaustion and you may find yourself short of energy and willpower for the all important exit.
All the exercises should be done separately from the projection itself. They are training and development exercises, designed to improve control over body and mind and to increase the flow of energy through the chakras. This is like working out in a gym as a part of football training. You don't actually use these exercises to play football, they just improve your fitness and strength so you are able to play football effectively.
Do the training exercises separately UNLESS you are trying for an advanced, real time projection. It is, then, still necessary to go through the full procedure, and activate all the chakras, prior to the actual projection.
The whole point of learning to project is to get your astral body to separate from the physical while fully conscious. The earlier you get a fully conscious projection the better. Otherwise, you may eventually give it all up as just too difficult. Therefore, I strongly suggest all beginners concentrate on the simplest, most effective way of getting a conscious projection. Once you have some projection experiences under your belt you can try for some of the more advanced, and hence, more difficult, types of projection.
By doing the training exercises you have learned to relax your body, to clear your mind and to concentrate. You have begun to develop (MBA) (mobile bodily awareness) and how to use MBA, i.e., using your imaginary HANDS to preform certain tasks both inside and outside of your body. You have also begun to awaken and develop your chakras so your energy flow is stronger and you have, hopefully, spent time getting used to being in trance. These skills have prepared your body and mind for projection.
When To Do The Exercises
Even though the exercises, in themselves, are not all used during the projection sequence, they still need to be done regularly in order to develop the necessary skills and energy levels for conscious projection.
I suggest the relaxation, concentration and mental calming exercises are done daily. Use your imaginary HANDS with these exercises. The energy, chakra work and other exercises should be done at least once a week to be effective. If you wish to do them more often, fine, just don't tire yourself out too much.
Your Projection Sequence
It is difficult to give one, universal projection sequence as everybody has different levels of skill and natural ability. For this reason I give a more flexible sequence and I suggest you tailor a projection method to fit your own needs and level of skill. Keep in mind the old saying "What works, works!" Play around with your sequence until you find what is right for you, what is easiest and most effective.
First, here is the full sequence for advanced, real time projection.
Full Sequence
1. Do relaxation exercises thoroughly.
2. Clear your mind through breath awareness.
3* Enter trance using mental falling method.
4* Raise energy and open all chakras.
5. Pull yourself out with the imaginary rope.
* Note: Steps 3* and 4* can be swapped to suit, i.e., do the energy work before, or after, entering trance. Energy and chakra work is more effective done in trance, but some people have trouble getting into that state. Doing the energy work first will usually help bring about the trance state.
Note: IF you still have trouble getting into trance, use the ROPE climbing method at step 3* instead of the mental falling exercise, until you are in trance. Then stop the ROPE climbing and do the energy work before continuing with the projection, i.e., using the ROPE at step 3* will help force your body into the trance state.
How To Use ROPE
This is a complete projection method in itself, if you have good powers of concentration. I suggest beginners concentrate solely on this method until they have more experience. This projection method will give you a normal Astral projection. The duration of this projection, in real time, will depend on the level of chakra development and energy flow you have attained.
1. Do the relaxation exercise thoroughly, until you are completely settled. This should only take a few minutes, don't overdo it.
2. Reach out with your imaginary HANDS and pull yourself, hand over hand, up the strong, invisible, imaginary ROPE hanging above you. Try and imagine the feel of a strong, thick, coarse rope in your HANDS.
Don't try and visualize this ROPE! I want you to imagine you are reaching out and climbing this ROPE in the pitch dark, so you can't see it at all, you just know where it is and can imagine the feel of it. Visualization wastes valuable mental energy that can be better put to use exerting direct pressure on your astral body.
You will feel a slight dizzy sensation inside you as you do this, specifically in your upper torso. This is caused by exerting dynamic pressure on the astral body. The dizzy sensation comes from the astral body loosening. This feeling of vertigo will intensify the more you pull on the rope.
* Very Important Note <1>: This dizzy feeling and any feelings of pressure or vertigo, etc, caused by your mental action of pulling on the ROPE MUST be carefully noted by you. Learn the EXACT mental action you are doing to cause this vertigo. You will have to train your mental climbing action to cause this feeling. So, the first few times you try this ROPE method, concentrate on finding the right mental action to do this. Once you learn what it is you are doing to cause this, and can recreate it at will, you are really starting to get somewhere.
Very Important Note <2>: IGNORE *ALL* SENSATION YOU FEEL DURING PROJECTION or it will distract you, break your concentration, and ruin your chances for projection. Cheavy sensation come over you. The pressure you are exerting on your astral body will force you into the trance state. Ignore this when it happens and concentrate on what you are doing.
4. Keep climbing and you will feel your chakras open in response to the pressure, don't stop.
5. Next you will feel the vibrations start, your whole body will seem to be vibrating and you will feel paralysed. Concentrate, single minded, on climbing your rope, don't stop.
6. Next you will feel yourself coming free of your body. You will buzz slightly as you pull yourself out of your body. You will exit your body in the direction of your imaginary ROPE and will be hovering above your body. You're free at last!
Note: Do *NOT* allow yourself to break concentration when the vibrations start. They are a natural EFFECT caused by energy coursing through all the hundreds of major and minor chakras in your body. If you do find yourself being distracted by this, spend more time and effort doing the concentration exercises until you overcome this problem.
Note: If you have not mastered using your imaginary HANDS for relaxation, raising energy and chakra work, you may have difficulty using them for climbing the ROPE. This does not mean you have to be able to open your chakras successfully to project using this method, you don't, it just helps if you can.
This method is very direct. It shortens the time needed to project dramatically! Once you start pulling in earnest on your ROPE you WILL enter trance, your chakras WILL open, the vibrations WILL start and you WILL project, very quickly! The speed of this method may frighten you, the first time you try it. Everything will seem to happen TOO fast. You will get used to this, though, and will appreciate having plenty of mental energy to use during your projection.
If your powers of concentration are good, you have a better chance of getting out with this method than any other, even if you haven't mastered deep relaxation and trance skills. What is needed, apart from the ability to concentrate, is the ability to carry out strong mental actions, without any corresponding muscular action, i.e., you have to be able to separate mental and physical actions.
If you have trouble with any part of the ROPE method, analyse it, find the problem area, then go back and concentrate on the related training exercises until you overcome the problem.
A ROPE Variation
Note: One good variation for the simple ROPE technique, is to do the full sequence of exercises and energy, chakra work first, but separate from, the actual projection. Do the full sequence, but `don't' close your chakras. Get up and have a break, make yourself comfortable, have a drink etc. Then return to your bed /chair fresh, spend a couple of minutes relaxing and go straight to your ROPE. This will increase the amount of chakra energy available during the projection.
The Mechanics OF How ROPE Works
ROPE is the most dynamic projection method to date and can override the need to do just about anything else, once it is learned. Let me explain a little more of the mechanics of what actually happens when you use ROPE, by breaking it down:
Clearing The Mind:
The mental act of climbing the ROPE fully occupies and clears the mind.
Brain Wave Activity:
Clearing the mind and exerting, one pointed, dynamic pressure on the astral body, forces the reduction of brain wave activity.
Deep Relaxation:
Reducing brain wave activity forces the body into a deep level of relaxation.
Trance State:
Exerting dynamic pressure on the astral body, while the physical body is deeply relaxed, and brain wave activity is at a low level, FORCES the mind and body into the trance state.
The Chakras:
Exerting dynamic pressure on the astral body, while in trance, FORCES the energy body to expand and the chakras to open.
Vibrations:
Exerting dynamic pressure on the astral body while the energy body is in its expanded state and the chakras are open causes energy to flow through the 300 odd chakras in the body and causes the vibrational state.
Separation:
Exerting dynamic pressure on the astral body while the energy body is in its expanded, vibrational state forces the astral body to separate from the physical.
Note: If you exert enough pressure on the astral body, during the final phase of the projection sequence, the exit, it will override the projection reflex completely. This forces a manual separation of the physical / astral bodies.
This means: Instead of involuntarily buzzing out of your body via the projection reflex, at the climax of the projection, and ending standing at the foot of your bed etc, you will exit your body in the direction you are pulling on the ROPE.
How Long Does It All Take
The whole projection process can be done in less than fifteen minutes, I can do it in under five minutes. The speed of the method allows you to use ALL your available energy in one burst. If you don't get out in the first fifteen minutes I doubt if you will during that attempt. IF this is the case, either get up and have a break and come back to it later, or get some sleep.
Using the ROPE method, literally, amazed me with it's ease and simplicity the first time I used it. It shortened my usual projection time (20-30 minutes, from a cold start) to about 5 minutes, for a normal astral projection. I still, though, use the full sequence when I do a real time projection.
My analysis of the mechanics of this process comes from using the ROPE method myself and carefully observing what was happening to my body during the separation.
My First ROPE Projection
Here is an account of the first time I tried ROPE, while I was developing it as a viable theory:
I laid down on my bed, I was thinking of my new theory. I had been working out a projection technique that blind people could do. A technique that did not require ANY optical visualization. I had come up with the idea of using the sense of touch to exert pressure on the astral body, tactile imaging, as this sense is strongly developed in blind people.
I lay there for a few minutes, mulling it over in my mind, while I generally relaxed and settled myself, ready for sleep. Then I decided to try it out, to see if it was practical.
Note: I did not do any of the usual relaxation, mental calming or chakra energy exercises. I just wanted to see if I could exert pressure on my astral body with this method.
I reached out my imaginary hands and began climbing the ROPE, hand over hand. I immediately felt a sensation of vertigo in my stomach and upper torso and a dizzy feeling inside my bones, like a tickling inside my arms and legs. I snapped my mind shut, stopped all thought, and focussed my will on the climbing action. I could feel the enormous pressure it was exerting on my astral body, my astral head and upper torso was starting to lift free, trying to go up the ROPE following the line of pressure I was creating.
Still pulling, I felt my brain waves drop into the alpha state and the heavy sensation came over me as I entered trance. I kept pulling and the trance deepened, my body was now paralysed. Still pulling, my chakras opened and the vibrations started. I was amazed, I had only been doing this for a couple of minutes! I kept pulling and my astral body soon buzzed free of the physical.
This was completely different from any other projection I had ever done. The projection reflex did not seem to have time to cut in and project me out of my body. I had, literally, pulled myself free on my own. I floated above my physical body, still aware of myself on the bed.
I went to go through the wall into the lounge, where there was more light, as it was pretty dark in my room. Suddenly I was in a strange world. "Where the hell am I" I thought. There was very dim light and there was a damp fog all around me. There was a large building in front of me with an old fashioned thatched roof. To the side of me was an old rail fence made of massive, rough hewn timbers. I leaned against the fence and thought about it all. I looked past the house and saw the reflection of water. There was a lake on the other side of the house.
This didn't make any sense to me and I was getting bored, so I tried to move to another realm in the dream pool. I looked at my hand, this usually works. It was white and pale and unreal looking, it began to melt quickly, like white ice under a blowtorch. My fingers were soon stumps and then my hand melted and my arm began to follow. I tried remaking it. It grew back as I concentrated on visualizing what it should look like, but started to melt again as soon as I stopped concentrating.
Then it hit me, why this scene was so familiar to me, I was in a picture! I have a large picture hanging on the wall in my room, in the exact position where I had tried to pass through the wall. This picture has an old house with a thatched roof and a rough hewn fence around it. There is a lake behind it and it is early dawn, when the sun is just starting to illuminate things. There was no doubt about it, I was in my picture.
I'd had enough of this, it was too dim to enjoy the projection, or to do anything. I focussed on my physical body, which I could still feel. I concentrated on moving my mouth and eyes and this soon brought me back to my physical body. I sat up in bed and thought about it while I recorded the results of my experiment.
Settling back down again I tried climbing the ROPE again. Within a couple of minutes I was back out of my body again. "This is great," I thought! I hovered above my body and looked about the room. There in the gloom was the picture on the wall, the one I had entered by accident. I went towards it again, just to see if it would happen again. As I got closer it got bigger and bigger and I seemed to shrink into it. As I got right up to it, instead of passing through it, I seemed to move into it and there I was again in this dimly lit, damp world with the old house and the fence. Everything felt real about it, the fence felt like wood and even the air smelled different, it had a farm like, swampish smell about it.
Leaving the picture again and returning to my body, I again wrote everything down in my notebook. I lay there for most of the night, thinking about what had happened, mulling over the implications of it all, what it all meant....
This is how I discovered `Virtual Reality Projection' or (VRP) This technique is, at the moment, in its infancy and only a rough method for creating a custom made world. I plan to do some more experiments with it in the near future, though, to get the bugs out of it.
Remembering It All
One of the biggest problems with any kind of conscious OOBE is remembering it all when you wake up.
Here's what you can do about this not remembering. As soon as you wake up, sit up in bed and pull those memories back. Sit up and think hard. Put aside a few minutes quiet time each morning to do this. It will train your dream memory.
During this quiet time, run key phrases through your mind until you hit on something. Say things like: I looked at my watch and... I looked at my hands and... I was walking... I was talking to... I was just going to... I was over at... I was flying over... I was having a... I was inside a... I was with... These are examples of phrases that can lead you to a fragment of dream memory you can lock on to. Make up some more phrases to suit yourself.
It may feel like there is nothing in your mind to remember, but try hard and put some REAL effort into it. They are there, you just have to reach in and locate them. Once you lock onto a fragment of memory, more can be located and more and more. You will be surprised how much you can remember this way.
It is important to write these down as soon as you remember them. Even if you have to do this several times during the night. They may seem vivid and unforgettable at the time but dream, or astral, memories will usually vanish in a few seconds if you don't record them. Just write down a few key words and you can fill in the blanks later. With practise, this writing down can be dispensed with as your astral recall develops.
Stuck ?
Some people may find they are stuck in part of their body during projection. They may come free of their body but be stuck at their head or stomach area. If this happens, exerting too much pressure by pulling on the rope may cause some physical pain and discomfort. There are two possible reasons for this: If you are stuck in the middle, stomach area, it may be diet related, i.e., a heavy protein or meat meal before projection can cause this.
Remedy: Eat a light meal, eat plenty but have fish or white meat instead of red meat and avoid fats, oils, nuts and cheese.
If you are stuck at the head, or some other part, this is a sign of an inactive chakra, possibly caused by an energy blockage.
Remedy: Concentrate on opening this stuck chakra during the energy exercises. If this happens during your projection sequence, stop everything and open that chakra, you will be in trance so it will be easier. Once you have done some work on it, try pulling on the ROPE again.
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Continued in part 6
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... ... a friendly little light from down under ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Certain partisan beliefs leave you with a peculiar empty feeling, much like a wallpaper sandwich does. You think you've got it, you know you've had it, but it just doesn't sit quite right on the inside... < Robert Bruce > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------